University Boulevard Corridor Plan

Thrive Montgomery 2050 ( Montgomery County’s General Plan) lays out an overarching vision for the county’s future that notes the importance of corridors, such as University Boulevard. Thrive states that corridors create a web, connecting residents to existing and future centers of activity and Complete Communities. These corridors also either have robust transit service in place (such as Metro and Ride On services) or planned (bus rapid transit) or are located close to existing concentrations of jobs, services, and infrastructure in ways that lend themselves to supporting more intensive development.

Looking ahead, Thrive highlights the importance of several existing and evolving corridors, including Rockville Pike/MD 355, Columbia Pike/US 29, Fairland and Briggs Chaney, and University Boulevard. The University Boulevard Corridor Plan is expected to be one of the first to follow that vision.

Thrive also designates different growth areas in the county including the Corridor-Focused Growth area, Limited Growth area and the Rural Areas and Agricultural Reserve. University Boulevard is included in the Corridor-Focused Growth area, an area that The General Plan states “should have the largest share of new growth” as it “encompasses the most developed part of the county with highest-density population and employment centers, and the infrastructure to support existing and new development” (p.72). Within the growth areas, Thrive also identifies “several existing and potential centers of activity at a variety of scales, including Large, Medium, and Small as well as Villages and Neighborhood Centers” (p.72). Along the University Boulevard Corridor Plan area, Wheaton is included as a large center and Takoma-Langley is included as a medium center.

Corridors have occupied a significant place in county planning since the 1964 Wedges and Corridors Plan. Similarly, the idea of focusing growth along corridors is far from new; prior plans, such as the Veirs Mill Corridor Master Plan and the White Flint Sector Plan, have addressed major roadway corridors.  Existing corridors, such as MD 193, already play a significant role in the lives of the people who live near them, and what happens on the corridor can affect quality of life in meaningful ways. Additionally, corridors are also where the county envisions high-quality BRT transit, development opportunities, and economic connectivity and serve as connections to centers of activity.

The preliminary recommendations seek to provide opportunities for mixed-use development and new housing typologies along the corridor, near future bus rapid stations, and in the larger plan area. The plan area is now close to transit and future BRT, which makes it suitable for exploring additional housing opportunities.

In addition to housing at the BRT stations and along the corridor, the plan also explores the potential for growth with large institutional properties through infill, redevelopment, and co-location, and other uses. An example of this type of development is the recent approval of the Har Tzeon-Agudath Achim property located at 1910 University Boulevard West for new senior housing and a religious use.

The plan seeks to provide multiple safe and convenient transportation options for all travelers, regardless of age, ability, or mode of transportation. The plan prioritizes safety and choice, serving pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, and vehicle passengers who live, work, learn, and visit the plan area over the through-movement of high-speed vehicles.

The plan recommendations seek to right-size roadways and intersections to create a safer and more comfortable environment for people who are walking, rolling, bicycling, riding transit, and driving and implement a complete network of comfortable walkways and low-stress bikeways, connected by safe, protected crossings.

At the moment, the County Council has not proposed any legislation regarding Attainable Housing Strategies so this plan does not incorporate the AHS recommendations made by the Planning Board. While UBC’s recommendations are based on current zoning, the University Boulevard Corridor Plan is an opportunity to change zoning along the corridor to help produce more housing options to residents and perspective residents and to create transportation safety improvements along the corridor.

Zoning is a legal classification that regulates the land uses and physical parameters of buildings on a property, including density, height, and placement. Properties in the plan area are predominantly zoned R-60 today, a residential detached zone in which the current predominant permitted use is single-unit household living, located in detached houses. The preliminary recommendations propose to change the zoning of corridor fronting blocks, properties within ¼ mile of future Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) stations, and institutional properties to a combination of Commercial Residential Neighborhood (CRN) and Commercial Residential Town (CRT). The Montgomery County Planning Board and the Montgomery County Council consider these recommendations through their review of the plan. Any zoning changes that are approved through the plan, are then implemented through a separate process known as a sectional map amendment. The change in zoning provides property owners the choice to build additional housing types on their property—but there is no obligation to do so.

Zoning changes do consider context with regard to heights and building placement, when an apartment, multi-use, or general building type in a Commercial Residential Neighborhood (CRN) or Commercial Residential Town (CRT) abuts a property in a Residential Detached or Residential Townhouse zone. For example, if your property is proposed to retain its current R-60 zoning but is located across the street from a property proposed to be zoned CRN, any apartment, mixed-use, or non-residential building is required to provide side and rear yard setbacks equal to 1.5 times the setbacks required in the R-60 zone and transition in height.

Changes to the county’s zoning code will allow you to choose to build more or different units on your property—but you are under no obligation to do so. If you like your single-family home, you can keep it! No homeowners will be obligated to build specific housing types; zoning changes would just allow property owners to choose to build different types of homes.

No. The change in zoning provides property owners the opportunity – and more importantly, the choice – to build additional housing types, but the county will not use eminent domain to acquire your house to build more housing.

The core purpose of any zoning changes will be to make housing more attainable in UBC—primarily by allowing more kinds of homes in more places. Whether a developer is building near a Metro station or an individual homeowner wants to add an accessory unit to their property, having options on the supply side means we’ll have options on the demand side, too. It’s also worth noting that the only change to housing we’re talking about here—and indeed, the only type of policy change Montgomery Planning is empowered to recommend—is to zoning, which requires a public hearing before both the Planning Board and the County Council. Zoning merely describes what kinds of buildings and development are allowed where; again, this is about giving property owners options, not compelling anyone to build.

As part of the master plan process, Planning staff evaluates how the Plan’s recommendations will affect infrastructure and coordinates with relevant county agencies and service providers to determine if additional facilities and infrastructure will be needed to accommodate the growth anticipated in the Plan’s vision.

In addition to the process that occurs with the master plan, the Planning Board only approves new development after determining that the surrounding infrastructure, such as sidewalks, roads, and schools, can meet the needs of new residents, visitors, and students. The Growth and Infrastructure Policy, which establishes a process for analyzing a new development’s impact on public infrastructure and sets standards for determining if the infrastructure is adequate to accommodate the proposed development, guides how the Planning Board makes that determination by setting standards for evaluating public infrastructure and the impact an individual development may have on it. It also outlines how a developer can bring infrastructure up to standard so the project can proceed. Montgomery Planning initiates an update to the GIP every four years to ensure that the county is using the best tools to advance our goals.

The Plan makes two distinct sets of transportation recommendations for University Boulevard:

1. Outside Four Corners (approximately west of Lorain Avenue and east of Lexington Drive): The Plan recommends maintaining the existing location of street curbs. From those existing curbs, the Plan recommends moving the sidewalks 8 feet outward (i.e., away from the center of the street) to accommodate space for landscaped street buffers and a wider sidepath that can safely accommodate people walking, biking, and rolling. A 2-foot maintenance buffer (e.g., a grass strip) outside each sidepath is also required. While the Plan does not recommend widening the roadway itself, the Plan does anticipate needing the 124-foot right-of-way identified in previously adopted master plans to accommodate landscaped street buffers, pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and maintenance buffers, as shown in the below figure. The existing right-of-way varies along the corridor, but it is generally narrower than 124 feet. The additional right-of-way needed to accommodate the Plan’s recommendations will require dedication through redevelopment or partial acquisition along property frontages, which will be determined at the time of future redevelopment or detailed engineering of capital improvements in consultation with the property owner.
2. Within Four Corners (approximately between Lorain Avenue and Lexington Drive), the Plan recommends maintaining the existing right-of-way. The Plan recommends repurposing the space within the existing right-of-way currently used for one traffic lane per direction to move the curbs inward (i.e., toward the center of the street) to make space for landscaped street buffers and wider sidewalk and sidepath facilities for people walking, biking, and rolling. The Plan does not anticipate the need for additional right-of-way to accommodate the pedestrian and bicycle facilities and landscaped street buffers.

A robust multimodal network can actually improve traffic conditions for drivers, particularly when it’s coupled with a mixture of land uses that allow people more access to their daily needs on foot, by bicycle, or in a short public transit trip. Alternative modes—from good sidewalks to Metrobus coverage—mean fewer cars on the streets. The University Boulevard Corridor Plan emphasizes walkability for a reason—we hope to put more housing options near transit that minimize the need for driving in the first place. Multimodal improvements also improve roadway safety for drivers and people traveling in cars by reducing excessively wide roadways that facilitate speeding during off-peak times and encouraging the introduction of additional traffic signals that smooth vehicular traffic progression and provide safer vehicular access and turns.